National Geographic, March, 1960
father awoke, but merely wondered "what the
loud noise had been."
Some time later, Mrs. Bennett remembers,
they heard another great roar. Hastily they
went to check on the children. Mrs. Bennett
felt a blast of wind and saw her husband grab
a small tree for support. She saw him "lift
off his feet, hang for a second like a flag,
and let go."
She never saw him alive again. One of her
children flew by, and a car rolled over and
over past her. Then she lost consciousness.
"The first thing I knew I was in water,
rolling and banging into things," 16-year-old
Philip Bennett told me (opposite).
When he stopped, he knew his left leg was
badly broken. He felt no pain, but he was
entirely naked and very cold. The earth
trembled, and huge shadows rolled in the sky
-dust clouds, he realized later. He crawled
crablike into a clump of trees and dug into
the mud to keep warm. All night he stayed
awake, sure that more water would come rush
ing down on him, "preparing for it."
At dawn searchers heard Phil and Mrs.
Bennett calling for help, and found them in
the dry riverbed on the edge of the slide.
Later they found the battered, lifeless bodies
of Mr. Bennett and his other three children.
Wind Tears Clothes From Campers
Seven families between the Bennetts and
Rock Creek Campground were buried alive
by the rock, earth, and trees of the land
slide. Other people in the campground proper
were picked up by water that backwashed
100 feet up the mountainside, and by the
hurricane-velocity gusts shot out as the slide
displaced air in its path. Several had their
clothes literally torn from their bodies.
Nine, in all, could be counted dead. Nine
teen more are still missing to this day, pre-
Survivors await rescue on a slope facing the slide-scarred ridge. Fearing a flood if
Hebgen Dam gave way, pajama-clad campers leaped out of bed and fled to high ground.
PAUL F. JESSWEIN AND EVERETTO'HARE
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